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Already tick season in the Southeast

2K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  Springbrz 
#1 ·
I just figured I would post a reminder to be on the lookout for ticks and such. We pulled one off of Roscoe last night, and this morning he was very whiny with no appetite. Ended up having vomiting and diarrhea, so we took him to the vet. Probably picked up some sort of fever from the tick, so we're treating him for it now. He already seems to be doing better after some medication the vet gave him.
 
#4 ·
Last night was rough. He threw up his medicine before it had time to work, so he was feeling very bad. A lot of whining and heaving. This morning though, I think he's turning the corner. He has kept all his food down since breakfast, including his medicine. He's sleeping really well, all sprawled out and dreaming, as opposed to ears down and curled up. Just hoping it lasts like this until his next dose of meds so tonight isn't as bad.
 
#5 ·
Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the bugs this spring and summer here in South Carolina. The parking lot here at work is already yellow, and i have seen misquitos and snakes out and about. We seem to be running at least a month ahead of schedule with bugs, pollen, hibernating animals, etc.

Not sure if any of you follow golf, but for those that do here is some perspective. The azaleas at Augusta National have already begun blooming. The Masters is 5-6 weeks away.
 
#6 ·
Man, this has been a rough ride. One minute he seems like he's getting better, and the next minute he seems like he's getting worse. His fever is gone now, and he isn't dehydrated, and he still has a good appetite, so the vet thinks he's starting to recover. His vomiting was still bad this morning, so she changed some of his meds up. He really needs to put on some weight once this is all over with.
 
#9 ·
Did the vet say his illness was tick related. Hope he feels better soon. We pulled a tick off the pup the other day. It's time for use advantix now and our daily romps through the woods might have to stop soon as they keep going off the path. Soon it will be tick haven here.
 
#13 ·
I've never been so happy in my life to see a dog go poop. He finally did today, which hopefully means that there is no obstruction. We still have an appointment with the vet this afternoon to see what she recommends. He's also kept down most of his food. I definitely saw roundworm in his stool, so maybe this is all part of the excretion of the worms? Who knows. I'm feeling more optimistic than I was at 3:00AM though.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Well, it turns out that it was a very good thing that Roscoe had a BM today. I was able to take the stool up to the vet for her to look at, and she said it was the most coccidia in a sample that she has ever seen. She was somewhat surprised that the original vet we went to didn't pick up on it, even though it is difficult to detect. They also missed that he had whipworms.

We did an xray today and possibly saw signs of a blockage, so we left Roscoe at the vet overnight. They're going to do a barium xray to confirm the blockage. After she looked at his stool, she said it was really possible that the xray was just showing how much distress his system is in. I'm waiting on a phone call this evening to hear what the results were.

Roscoe's definitely a fighter. He's endured this and is still trying to eat and not getting super depressed, although he shows obvious signs of being sick. He should only have to stay tonight, so we will get to see him tomorrow. Thanks everyone for keeping us in mind.

And yes, I realize the irony of this thread starting out as a PSA for ticks, when it seems that the tick we found on Roscoe is not the cause of all of this.

EDIT:
Literally as soon as I posted this, I got a call from the vet who said the barium seems to be moving through his system and that she is pretty confident that we are just battling the parasites at this point, and not a blockage.
 
#17 ·
I'm very happy to report we have a much happier and less sick GSD in our house. Roscoe came home and, while he still has a little bit of abdominal pain and still has a lot of meds left to take, he seems much better than he has all week.

He also has a funny looking foot now.
 
#19 ·
For the first night this week, Roscoe slept through without whining or being in pain. This morning he's back to his old puppy self. Very playful and very hungry, and having regular bowel movements again. Trying to be careful not to give too much food until he seems completely over the nausea. Today we are mixing his regular food back in with the bland diet.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. Once we get through all of this, Roscoe has to put on some weight to catch up with the rest of his body, especially his feet. Also, his ears are pretty regularly standing up now, just a little bit of flop left at the top.

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#20 ·
Just a quick update on Roscoe. Yesterday was the best day he's had in over a week. He seemed like a normal puppy. No vomiting or whining in pain, very playful, he's having regular stool, and overall looks healthy. He's starting to pick up a little bit of weight as well. Today we are starting to mix his regular food back in; we didn't last time because he was still vomiting and we didn't want to make things worse. He still has a few days left on the meds for the coccidia, but all his other meds are finished up. Now I just have to call to get his follow-up visit scheduled, and then we will hopefully only be back for the regular puppy visits.
 
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